The world's most beautiful currencies
A Costa Rican banknote for five colones. It shows Rafael Yglesia Castro, president of Costa Rica from 1894 to 1902 and a G
uaria Morada orchid, Costa Rica's national flower. The current series of banknotes is being replaced throughout 2010.
A Canadian banknote for five dollars, depicting children playing ice hockey. The verse is from a
Roch Carrier short story, and reads: "The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places - the school, the church and the
skating rink - but our real life was on the skating rink."
A colourful five dollar Australian note. In 1965,
Australia adopted the name "royal" for its currency, but it was later dropped in favour of the dollar.
A note for one
Egyptian pound. All Egyptian banknotes are bilingual.
A 100 dirham note from the
UAE, showing the World Trade Centre. A falcon watermark is placed on all UAE banknotes to help prevent fraud.
A five rupee note from Pakistan. The port depicted is
Gwadar port, which opened in 2008.
A five ringgit note from
Malaysia showing the
Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the
Petronas Twin Towers, and the Multimedia Super Corrido
A 20 rand note from
South Africa. Each in this series of banknotes features a different animal from the "big five".
A colourful, floral 1000 note from
French Polynesia, where the currency is the CPF franc.
A 500 baht note from
Thailand. This is roughly equivalent to £10 of British money.
A Surinamese ten dollar note. The dollar replaced the Surinamese guilder in January 2004.
A one lempira note from Honduras. The lempira was introduced in 1931, and is named after a 16th century ruler
A
New Zealand note for five dollars, depicting New Zealand's native hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin.
A Bahamian one dollar note, showing the Royal Bahamas police force band.
A one dinar note from
Libya. The dinar replaced the pound in 1971.
Indian 1000 Rupee note bearing the image of the nation's father, Mohandas K. Gandhi in front and a combine harvester, an offshore oil derrick, a satellite, and a steel furnace, with a young girl working at a computer at the back
An Indonesian note for 1000 rupiah. The word rupiah derives from the Indian rupee. This note shows traditional houses in the city of Palembang.
